Asian Markets Trade Down on Covid Worries

The Asian and Pacific Rim markets drifter lower on Monday by the late morning. Trader sentiment was mixed as Covid-19 worries persist.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-member allies led by Russia, reached an historic agreement to scale back production from the first of May.

Volume was thin in the Asian region as financial markets in Hong Kong and Australia were closed for the Easter Monday Holiday.

In Japan, the Asian benchmark, the Nikkei 225, was down in the morning hours as shares fell by 0.9 percent. Shares of Fast Retailing were down over two percent. In Tokyo, the Topic index was down 0.69 percent.

In South Korea, shares lost 0.6 percent as chipmaker SK Hynix fell over two percent.

The broad MSCI index, which does not include Japanese stocks, was mostly flat by the late morning hours.

In China, on the mainland, the indices were lower by lunchtime. The Shanghai composite lost 0.45 percent and the Shenzhen composite was down over 0.81 percent.

Asian Sentiment Remains Down on Covid-19 Developments

Traders around Asia and the Pacific Rim continue to monitor the threat of the Covid-19 global pandemic. This will weigh on trader sentiment throughout the day.

There are now 1.8 million infected with the Covid-19 virus around the world. Nearly 112,241 people have now died from this outbreak.

Italy is now starting to begin the process of discussing how to gradually reopen their country after being ravish by the epidemic. The United States, according to their president, would like to reopen their economy by May 1.

This is despite grave concerns by U.S. healthcare professions. The Governor of New York is also not onboard as they fear the worst might not have come and a second round, if reopening the economy, could be even worse.

Oil and Market Traders React to the OPEC + Agreement

On Thursday, the OPEC + group originally wanted to cut back ten percent of the global oil supply or ten million barrels per day. Mexico was firmly against the amount of production they were being asked to cut.

This agreement, which was accepted by the members, will see Mexico cut production by 100,000 barrels per day.

The OPEC + nations, as a whole, will reduce production by 9.7 million barrels per day. This starts on May 1 and will extend through the end of June. The reduction cuts will taper back, by July, to 7.7 million barrels per day until the end of the year.

From January 2021 to April 2022, the 22 nation OPEC + group will meet on 10 June to discuss whether or not any further action is needed.